Long Description:"In 1998, the Negro Historical Association of Colorado Springs selected William Seymour (1843 - 1920) as a suitable Colorado Springs’ resident to memorialize. Mr. Seymour represents those people known as the “invisible people of the Pikes Peak Region” - black American pioneers whose contributions to the growth and development of this area have been largely unrecognized. William Seymour was an outstanding representative of the Colorado Springs’ community.

Born into slavery on a plantation in central Kentucky, Mr. Seymour and his wife Elizabeth, homesteaded in Kansas following the Civil War. In the late 1890’s they moved still further west and with their eleven children, established a prosperous farm and dairy operation north of the City of Colorado Springs near what is now known as the Black Forest and helped supply Sinton Dairy and Mowery Creamery.

After retirement, the Seymour family moved into town, where Mr. Seymour became active in civic and church affairs and was the first person of African descent to serve on a jury in the newly-constructed El Paso County Courthouse (1903), which now houses the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. Mr. Seymour was also a founding member of St. John’s Baptist Church; the first black Baptist Church built in the Colorado Springs’ area.

The life-size bronze figure installed at the Northwest corner of the Museum property, stands next to a bench seat where visitors may stop and rest along the same route that led to the Seymour home at 612 Franklin Street. The sculpture was designed by New Mexico artist, Stephanie Huerta." (from (visit link) )